WWE
knows a good thing when they have found it. Why else would they still be doing
their gaudy 80s wrestling shows? I know that there are people who get very into
WWE and may find it insulting that I call it a show, but that is what they are
doing. They put on a show for audiences, and ultimately all of the wrestler
must be actors and performers first of all. This is why it makes complete sense
for the franchise to start making movies. Action films do a great deal to
promote the stars of WWE, even when they move on the bigger things. We all know
how Dwayne Johnson got his start.

John
Cena was given the spotlight for the first Marine film, and then it was Ted
DiBiase’s turn for the sequel. This time around it is Mike “The Miz” Mizanin,
who stars as Sgt. Jake Carter, who is on leave when his sister is abducted by a
band of violent extremists planning a deadly terrorist strike. With the
authorities unwilling to risk saving his sister, Jake goes on a one-man rampage
against the terrorists.

On
par with the first two films, there is plenty of hand-to-hand action, as well
as some good gunplay. The simplicity of the first film is missing, and this one
is easily the least believable for a myriad of reasons. That being said, the
action is still hard-hitting and moderately engaging in the way that this type
of film is meant to be. You won’t be challenged, but if you are lucky you will
be entertained.

The
Blu-ray includes a number of features, including a journal from the star,
several featurettes about him, and one about casting choices. There are also a
few featurettes about the intricacies of filming on a boat set.

Filmmaker
Paul Thomas Anderson does not make throwaway films. He has never taken a break
from making art films for the occasional blockbuster, and it would seem that he
is one of very few in Hollywood
who have not made compromises once blessed with success and fame. Even David
Fincher made a remake and Christopher Nolan has cashed in on several
franchises, but P.T. Anderson’s films get more complex, and often less
enjoyable. The Master is as impressive as it is uncomfortable to sit through, a
character study of intensely haunting proportions.

The
film has many plot points which are worth mentioning, but at the heart of the
film is an examination of a single man returning home from World War II. The
post-war trauma which swept through the nation after the war was enough to
inspire an entirely new and exclusively American film genre, the film noir.
Although borrowing style from German filmmaking of the 1920s, film noir had an
attitude and mood exclusive to the post-war anxiety men had returning home from
the war to find they no longer had a place at home. Women had taken the jobs
while they had been away, and control was lost for many of them.

The
protagonist of The Master is one of these men, a drifter named Freddie Quell
(Juaquin Phoenix, returning the screen for the first time since his poorly
received prank). Freddie is more than an alcoholic, mixing booze with poisons
and gasoline to give it extra kick. When this disturbed and aimless man crosses
paths with a man named Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), he becomes
entangled in a movement known as “The Cause.” Details are slowly revealed about
this organization, which at times appears as more of a cult, but the film is
much more focused on how this would appeal to a man like Freddie.

Though
I don’t believe it comes close to being the masterpiece that was There Will Be
Blood, The Master only further solidifies my belief that Paul Thomas Anderson
is this generation’s Stanley Kubrick. At times he is ahead of audiences, but I
believe that historians will look back at him as one of the greatest films
working at this time. Though not always the easiest films to sit through,
movies like The Master offer rich complexities which beg for repeat viewings.
Spectacularly shot in 65mm, gloriously acted, and directed with precision, The
Master is surely one of the best films of the year. Unfortunately, most won’t
be willing to endure the unpleasantness in the plot to discover the
intellectual depths of the film.

The
Blu-ray includes outtakes and additional scenes, as well as a short film and
behind-the-scenes featurette. The highlight of the bonus features, however, is
a WWII documentary by John Huston, Let
There Be Light. This 1946 documentary seems a likely source of inspiration
for The Master, and opens the film up to even more understanding and analysis.

Please
allow me to put aside usual formalities taken when reviewing films to
appropriately describe my feelings after watching The First Time. Let me first ask, how the hell did this independent
film impress me more than any other teen romance I have seen in the last few
years? How did this film have dialogue far more compelling than much of
Tarantino’s latest screenplay? (Regardless of the Academy’s decision, Inglourious Basterds is a masterpiece
but Django Unchained was sloppy work
for the filmmaker). But most of all, as I watched The First Time, I was
thinking the same thing over and over again. Fuck Juno and Fuck 21 and Over.
Give me more movies like this.

What
is wonderful about the teenagers and the way they behave in The First Time is
the fact that they aren’t typical teenagers. They are dynamic and interesting.
Dave (Dylan O’Brien) is a gentleman and a romantic, even though it isn’t
popular to be so. Jane (Victoria Justice) doesn’t believe in Facebook or
Twitter and prefers having face-to-face encounters. These aren’t the hipster
too-cool for popular things either. They aren’t likely to get knocked up just
out of boredom, and when they inevitably have their first time, it is treated
more sensitively and honestly than I have ever seen on film before.

Written
and directed by Jonathan Kasdan, The
First Time is a sweet and charming film that gives teenagers today a film
that they can relate to, rather than watching a film that they are supposed to
look up to and envy, which is usually just a film filled with heavy partying.
There are several parties within The
First Time’s storyline, but the most significant things that happen at them
is dialogue related. The only sequence with topless girls seems out of place.
Even the actors in the scene seem a little surprised. The First Time has a few moments like this, unnecessary to say the
least. It isn’t a perfect film, but comes far closer than any big budget
romance from this past year, all Nicholas Sparks adaptations included.

Alien
invasion films are on the rise all over the world, including London. There is nothing altogether original
about Storage 24. It confines a group of seemingly helpless humans in a
confined space with an unpredictable alien, who slowly picks them off. Usually
the confined spaces in these films are due to the constrictions of space
travel; they may be in a space station or a spaceship, or otherwise confined
from escaping. In this particular film, the confined space is a storage locker
that the victims are trapped inside.

There
is far too much melodrama with the characters, but in the end it is all
rendered insignificant anyway, so I won’t bother to go into great detail.
Shelley goes to her shared storage facility with a couple of friends after
breaking up with her boyfriend, Charlie. Charlie arrives with a friend of his
own. This group along with some random workers and security guards are all
trapped inside when a military cargo plane crashes, releasing an alien in the
storage facility with them.

The
film tries too much to have characters that have relationship issues and other
melodrama that doesn’t really matter. All of this seems sloppy and forced,
whereas the effects and the deaths are much more complexly created. This is a
film which savors the gore in each blood-spurting, skull-crushing moment. This
is not for everyone, but those who appreciate it will also appreciate the
quality with which it was completed.

The
DVD includes deleted scenes and a slew of behind-the-scenes featurettes in the
special features. There are also several video blogs, a feature-length
commentary with actor Noel Clarke and director Johannes Roberts, as well as
select-scene commentaries. There are a ton of features, especially for a film
like this.

Smashed is an extremely honest film,
which is not always an easy thing to sit through. Life is difficult enough
without having to experience the pain of someone else’s life as well when
escaping to the movies, which is probably why most audience members would
rather choose an evening watching a werewolf fight against a vampire over the
love of a silly teenage girl. But for those looking for something with more
depth, and performances that put most Academy Award nominees this past year to
shame with brazen honesty, Smashed is
a treasure. Though I don’t imagine I need to see it again any time soon, I
would highly recommend this film.

Mary
Elizabeth Winstead carries the film as Kate, a young school teacher who still
spends every night drinking heavily with her irresponsible musician husband,
Charlie (Aaron Paul). When these nights of heavy drinking begin to get out of
control for Kate, she realizes that it may have become a problem that is taking
over her life. After vomiting in front of her first grade class, she tells
people she is pregnant to avoid telling the truth. This inevitably disastrous
situation paired with several nights of waking up in strange places leads Kate
to seek help, turning to a new group of friends in AA (Nick Offerman of “Parks
and Recreation” and Octavia Spencer from The
Help).

There
are some moments within the film that are a bit too awkward, perhaps
unnecessarily, but the one thing that always remains within the film is
sincerity. Never for one moment did I doubt that anything in the film could
really have happened, but Smashed also somehow manages to refrain from cliché
and predictable territory. It is truly an original and honest film about
addiction; somewhat heartbreaking, but excellent in every way.

The
DVD comes with a commentary track with director and co-writer James Ponsoldt
and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. There is also a making-of featurette, some footage
of the Toronto
screening and Q & A, and some deleted scenes.

I
went into Playing for Keeps with no previous knowledge. I had not seen the
trailer, and had no idea what type of film it was. All I knew was the cast of
actors, and the cover of the film shows two leading men and four leading
ladies, so it was unclear to me if this was an ensemble romance or if there was
one special couple amongst those six actors. At a certain point during the
beginning of the film, I though this might not even be a romantic comedy at
all; I imagined it to be a father/son bonding film, perhaps through the love of
soccer. But this is a romantic comedy, just one which is poorly constructed and
defectively conceived.

Gerard
Butler has had a string of bad romantic comedies, but at least the others with
a little less chaotic. There is a cast of actors involved in this film, all of
whom seem to be giving it their all to be humorous. They very bravely go
over-the-top and without any apparent guidance or restraint from the director.
The one thing this film seems sorely lacking is direction, which is perhaps why
it is so unclear what we are supposed to be rooting for. Much of the film had
me cringing. I felt bad for the actors involved.

Butler
stars as a piece of man-meat who was once a soccer star, but now he just
provides opportunities for gorgeous, desperate soccer moms who throw themselves
at him when he starts coaching his son’s team. This coaching takes up very
little screen time, though it introduces most of the extraneous characters,
from fast-talking soccer dad (Dennis Quaid) to a slew of moms (Catherine
Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman, and Judy Greer). Jessica Biel also stars as the mother
of our protagonist’s son, though her character is rather two-dimensional.

The
Blu-ray includes deleted scenes, a featurette about the casting and a making-of
feature.

To
be honest, I was expecting more from Stephen Frears. There is nothing wrong
with Lay the Favorite, but I found myself more irritated than entertained. This
is mostly because I was expecting more about the world of gambling, since the
film is based on a expose on the underworld by Beth Raymer. Instead of focusing
on these interesting details, the movie wastes no time to give way to romantic
melodrama. Perhaps in another film I would have been more interested in the
characters than the secret underworld of professional gamblers, but not in this
film and not with these characters.

We
are essentially given one secret of gamblers, which is the way that they place
throwaway bets just to change the odds before making their own real bet. Once
we are given this fact, the remainder of the film is essentially just a film
about romantic entanglements. Former stripper Beth (Rebecca Hall) wastes no
time in getting close to her gambler boss, Dink (Bruce Willis), despite his
marriage to a feared woman (Catherine Zeta-Jones).

When she separates
herself from that situation, Beth then becomes involved with another guy
(Joshua Jackson), but her gambling career keeps her from pursuing it. If only
we saw more of the gambling or if only there were a way to make gambling more
interesting to watch, Lay the Favorite may have been a more engaging film. I
understand the choice to make relationships just as dominant as the gambling; I
just wish that the melodrama were more interesting and less predictably cliché.
I guess that is what you get when borrowing from real life.

The
flippancy towards violence of all manners within Girls Against Boys is more
than a little sickening. It isn’t quite clear if director is writer/director
Austin Chick is addressing the violence in this matter as a form of commentary,
or simply because the filmmaker is as desensitized to violence as the
characters within the film seem to be. Either way, it makes for some socially
awkward moments that may make for uncomfortable viewing in any audience member
reading any level of seriousness from the plot.

In
something of a manipulative evening, Shae (Danielle Panabaker) goes out with
her mysterious co-worker, Lu (Nicole LaLiberte) for a night of fun. By the end
of the night, Shae has been violated by a man she met at a bar, giving Lu the
perfect opportunity to share her particular madness. The pair hunt down the man
responsible for Shae’s attack, but Lu ruthlessly assassinates any male they
come into contact along the way, innocent or otherwise. This tears down the
relevance, making this less of a revenge film and more of a spiteful psychopath
killer type of a film.

After
the revenge has been had we are meant to believe that they got away with all of
the killings without a hitch or suspicion from the police. Even more
unbelievable is the fact that Shae seems hardly affected, immediately
rebounding with a nice guy from her class. Lu is not so willing to move on
after the mass murder, wanting to continue a rampage against all men, for no
reason we are ever given other than for the mere pleasure of it. As cool as
this film may be, it is sloppy filmmaking that doesn’t bother to look past the
artifice of the image to the reasoning behind each character’s actions.

The
Blu-ray includes a commentary track with filmmaker Chick and actress Panabaker.

There
are a few spectacular moments in Deadfall, as well as performances to solidify
these moments in their greatness. Somehow the magnificence of these individual
moments is bittersweet, however, because the film as a whole is rather
forgettable. The plot is just shy of containing enough material to make a
feature film, spread out perhaps a bit more than it should have been. At the
very least, I kept anticipating some further character development, but instead
much of the film seems to be killing time in between those miraculous moments
of purpose. Director Stefan Ruzowitzky handles action nimbly, though they are
more often simply moments of violence. This is less of an action film, and more
of a hodgepodge of horror, film noir, family drama and western.

When
three thieves escaping from a casino heist are in a car crash, only two
survive. Siblings Addison (Eric Bana) and Liza (Olivia Wilde) have a mysterious
and slightly disturbing relationship with each other, but we are never given
much of a chance to discover what it is before they split up to escape. Liza is
rescued on the side of the road by an ex-boxer named Jay (Charlie Hunnam of
TV’s “Son’s of Anarchy”), who is also on the run from the law. While Liza uses
seduction to get where she needs to be, Addison
takes other methods, leaving a path of carnage wherever he goes.

What
sets Deadfall aside from many other films is Addison.
Whether it is the writing or Bana’s choices, he appears a unique type of
madman. There doesn’t appear to be joy or malice in his actions, but instead he
seems able to delusion himself into believing any violent act is justified if
he deems it necessary to getting what he wants. The best sequence in the film
is one in which this psycho comes across a Native American in the woods. This
battle doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of the film, though it is one of the
most memorable within it. The story dribbles into predictable territory when
the siblings reunite at Jay’s childhood home, along with weapons and Jay’s
parents (played expertly and without unnecessary melodrama by Kris
Kristofferson and Sissy Spacek).

The
Blu-ray includes a behind-the-scenes featurette, as well as production
interviews with essential cast and crew. There is also behind-the-scenes
footage and a promotional program that aired on AXS TV about the film.